Empathy
by sakurademonalchemist
Summary: Walter has a brother his team didn't know about. Adrian O'Brien, the strongest wizard in the O'Brien family...and an empath. Walter gets a surprise when Adrian is brought back to him after ten years of being away. Can Team Scorpion handle having a damaged wizard who can read their emotions like an open book? And what happens when a normal person is added to the mix?
1. Chapter 1

_**As a special treat, I'm finally making**_ **Empathy _a story as a special birthday present to my fans, instead of the other way around. Oh, and just to clarify, the ending scene in this chapter is where they started the TV show off. With Walter getting arrested for hacking NASA._**

* * *

Petunia Dursley nee Evans was at a crossroads, not that she knew it yet.

She had just been informed her sister was dead and she now had the sole custody of her sister's son, Hadrian. There was no way she could reasonably handle raising the brat along with her own son. And Vernon wouldn't hear of raising a wizard...he barely tolerated the mere mention of Lily.

Which left her at a standstill. Until her eyes fell on the bi-decade invitation to the family reunion. It had already passed, but an idea formed.

Surely one of her many Irish cousins could take the boy in? It wasn't that much trouble to arrange bringing Hadrian to the reunion and leaving him, and no one would think twice about him being there.

Plan in mind, she waited to tell Vernon. Just in case _They_ were watching the house.

And they _were_ watching.

Petunia had dismissed Arabella Figg at first, thinking nothing of a new neighbor.

Then she noticed something odd. Something that raised all forms of alarms in her mind.

Arabella Figg was unemployed. She was at home all day, had no husband and far too many cats. And she seemed too interested in the activity in Petunia's house.

She kept the fact her nephew was there, mostly making sure that when she took Dudley out, Harry had a cap on to hide that horrible scar on his forehead.

Petunia attempted to oust Figg from their neighborhood once she slowly began to realize the woman might be a witch, but to no avail. Her plan to hand her nephew over to one of her cousins now had an immediate urgency.

Thankfully she was finally able to locate one part of the family willing to take the boy in, no questions asked.

The O'Brien family had a daughter and a son who was about Hadrian's age. Walter and Megan.

Petunia couldn't hide her relief when the family reunion came up. Vernon waved off bringing Dudley, agreeing to watch their son for a few days while Petunia left Hadrian with the O'Brien family at the reunion. She would come home late, so no one would realize Hadrian wasn't there for a few days.

More than enough time for the adoption to go through, once the appropriate bribes were made.

It would be a closed adoption, meaning the magical idiots wouldn't be able to view the files without alerting Petunia.

* * *

Hadrian looked around with wide eyes at his family. They weren't like his Uncle, who hated him for something he had no idea about.

His aunt was decidedly neutral about the whole thing. She knew it was just a matter of time before the reunion, and she made it clear she was passing him on to a family that had no idea of his... abilities. She couldn't handle having him in the house, and Vernon definitely didn't want him around Dudley.

This was the best of a bad situation.

"Petunia!"

"Rosie!"

"I see you brought Hadrian with you," said Rose O'Brien Beside her was Walter, who was hanging close to his sister.

"Hadrian, this is Rose and her two children. Walter and Megan."

Walter timidly said hello, while Megan clearly wanted to hug her cousin. He was too cute!

Petunia and Rose watched the children interact. Petunia felt a ball of worry uncurl in her stomach, mostly at the relief that there was a very real possibility of leaving Hadrian and knowing he was safe with a much more tolerant family.

Rose's husband was a bit old fashioned, and not very quick to accept strange things...but he wouldn't take it out on the child like Vernon would. Not without cause.

When the reunion wound down, Petunia handed the O'Brien a few papers that signed over legal custody of Hadrian to them. She walked off with a final goodbye to the boy...she owed him that much, but she left the matter of his living arrangements out of mind.

She arrived home around midnight two days later, and it would take almost two full weeks before someone took note Hadrian might be missing.

It took a month before Figg revealed herself as a spy from the senile bastard who took her sister away and got her killed.

Petunia would feel vindictive pleasure knowing that Hadrian was safely away in a country she _knew_ the old goat had no jurisdiction in. Lily had once commented how there were competing schools in Ireland and Scotland, and how weird it was learning magic in a Scottish castle while they claimed to be British.

She could only hope this Irish school snapped up Hadrian before the man could send the familiar letter at eleven. It would serve him right for just dumping Hadrian in a home he should have known the boy wouldn't be welcomed in. AND he never paid them the extra money they would need to raise two children!

* * *

 _Four years later..._

The O'Brien parents weren't entirely shocked when the school came calling. If anything, they were just surprised it had been Le Fay's who found him first.

Adrian O'Brien was a wizard. Not only that, but the British were scrambling like mad trying to find where here his "muggle" aunt had misplaced him. Because of the tensions between the Irish and the English, the British had been unable to enter the country.

Mostly because the boy in question had been given a new name and was registered as "Adrian O'Brien", rather than Hadrian "Harry" Potter with the magical and mundane consulate.

The O'Brien were a family of squibs...mostly. Walter had shown some signs of magic, but it was limited. And Megan's core had been twisted, so she couldn't use it. And they couldn't afford the expensive treatment to fix it.

Without any evidence the Potter boy was in Ireland, they had passed it over entirely.

"Mr. O'Brien? I'm from the Le Fay School..."

"For Adrian," he interrupted.

"Yes. And possibly Walter, if he's willing to put in the effort."

"Aye, he'll put in the effort when he realizes Adrian is going."

Adrian and Walter were as close as real brothers, though he was closest to Megan for some reason.

Adrian seemed to gravitate to the happy, slightly protective girl, but when there were too many people he always stuck close to Walter, despite the fact that the boy had very little ability to properly emphasize with others, and didn't seem to realize that he offended people with his blunt attitude.

"When will the boys be home?"

"In a few hours."

Adrian and Walter were wide-eyed learning they had magic. Then again, strange things always happened around Adrian.

"Come along lads, we'll have ye home for supper soon enough. Then you can pick which courses ye will be taking at the school," said Mr. Collin.

"What sort of school is Le Fay?" asked Adrian.

"It's a school for magic, the best school. Then again they all claim that, particularly those tossers in Scotland. Don't let the hype about Hogwarts fool you...it's full of stupidity and bullies."

Adrian scowled. The last time they had a bully, it was a teacher who picked on Walter for being the smartest kid in class. The last time he had went to 'punish' Walter because he didn't define his parameters, Adrian had melted the rubber on his shoes into the stone and they had to cut him out. Never mind that Megan pulled the alarm to get Walter out...they shouldn't have had to do it in the first place.

"How bad is it?"

"Well for starters, Hogwarts strictly a boarding school. Your parents are arranging a part time lesson course, so you can take lessons at night and still attend your mundane courses. While Hogwarts claims to be one of the top ten schools in Europe, it's actually closer to the forty-eighth school and that's pushing it. And the less said about the house rivalries, the better. It's mostly a school for the older families to dump their children to get something close to an education, than it is for teaching the New Bloods about their magic. And it doesn't help that the older, established lines think of the New Bloods as rude, so they tend to push them away. More New Bloods have left the British Magical society in favor of getting the education they were denied on the mundane side than any other country. They also have an unpleasant habit of belittling them with made up words."

"What kind of words?" said Walter.

"They call New Bloods 'muggleborns' and mundanes such as a good portion of your classmates 'muggles'. Anyone who isn't from a fully established line or has only one magical parent is a 'Half-blood', while those from two established lines are considered 'pure bloods'. It's a lot of codswallop to us, but they put far too much stock in magical breeding over magical proficiency."

Walter made a face. It sounded ridiculous to him.

"Now you see why we've been accepting children under eleven. The sooner we snatch them up, the less chance they have falling into the same rut as those poor students of Hogwarts."

"How will we get home every day though?" asked Adrian.

"One of the first things we teach you is how to traverse the old paths and make minor bargains with the Small Folk. The British have more or less enslaved theirs, so the pathways have become unused for centuries, but we would never be so foolish as to force the Small Folk to work as our servants."

"They're real?" said Walter in shock. He had never put much stock in the stories of leprechauns and fairies. That was all Megan and Adrian.

"Aye lad, and here's the best word of advice for ye...never accept gold from a leprechaun. It always vanishes. Speaking of gold...this here is the bank. We need to confirm your parents have an active account, since your sister was unable to attend."

Adrian scowled. He could sense something was wrong with Megan, but he had no idea how to fix it. He hated that.

"You first Walter, then your brother."

Walter walked up, held out his hand on instruction, and dropped three drops of blood onto the odd quill.

"Confirmed. Wait over there for your guide and we'll begin the process in a moment," said the wizard.

The British trusted their gold to goblins. The Irish knew better than to trust any of the Fair Folk, so they hired muggleborns who understood math and weren't inclined to be nice to the idiot Englishmen.

Adrian was next. Five seconds later, the man frowned a bit.

"Excuse me, we'll have to bring in the branch manager for this."

"Is there a problem?"

"He has multiple active accounts, most under the control of the English...and the goblins. We'll need official authorization and some decent fast talkers to access the accounts without having to go through the Ministry," he replied.

Adrian was confused, but he already knew he was adopted. He remembered the woman who left him with his new family and her awful husband and son.

It took two hours, an extended stay with the inheritance office and having to deal with an unhappy goblin from the Unseelie court...but eventually they were able to circumvent whoever it was that was currently in charge of the account until Adrian turned eleven.

The only catch was he couldn't access more than five hundred gold, two hundred and fifty silver and a hundred copper coins before his eleventh birthday, which was the traditional age for the English to send their children off to Hogwarts. But that was okay, because most of the school supplies for the brothers would be paid for with the all the copper and fifty silver coins, with some left over. The rest was spending money to be refilled on his birthday.

However...that didn't mean he couldn't transfer the coins to another account.

The cost for the treatment required to fix Megan's core was a hundred gold, too high for a small family like the O'Brien's to afford since it required multiple visits and twenty-five gold coins for each visit.

Adrian transferred all the gold coins he had available to the O'Brien account, and Megan would hopefully begin treatment within the year and attend classes with them.

* * *

 _Two years later..._

There were two owls watching the house.

When the children returned home from school, the owls flew down to the fence and waited.

"Da! There are owls outside!" shouted Megan.

"Bring them in," said Rose.

Five minutes later, they went from confused to irritated. Adrian was already attending a magical school of his choosing, so he should have been automatically removed from the roster of Hogwarts. And they got his name wrong.

The magical adoption had clearly made him an O'Brien, not a Potter.

The other was, much to the shock and relief, for Megan.

"But you said you'd come to our school," said Adrian.

Megan patted her brother on the head.

"We both know I was rejected twice because of the fact my core is still unstable. Besides, it might be interesting!"

Adrian pouted.

It had come as a shock learning Adrian was an Empath. It was why he gravitated to Megan so much...she was rather bubbly and upbeat and completely honest in her intentions. It was also why he used Walter more or less as a shield when the ability became too much for him to handle.

Walter, as it turned out, had an extremely low EQ rating. It meant he had trouble processing emotions normally...but to make up for it, his IQ was extremely high.

When Adrian's empathy had been explained to him, and why it was likely he would gravitate to people with low EQ since they would impact him the least. He focused on Walter's feelings because it provided a barrier to everyone else.

It also meant that he would always have trouble focusing or handling being around a lot of unfamiliar people, especially when emotions were high. Hospitals were anathema to him, crowds would slowly drive him into a corner, and funerals would drain him of all energy. So long as he could focus on one person with his complete attention, he could use them as a barrier to everyone else.

As a consequence, he would generally be eager to please around that person, to make sure they didn't leave him alone.

Empathy was a blessing...and oftentimes a curse.

"Well I for one don't want to go some Scottish school. I like being with Walter, and they never sent him a letter," said Adrian flatly, throwing his into the fireplace where it burned merrily.

He frowned at the way it changed colors.

"Da, I think that had some spells on it," said Adrian.

Megan frowned, before she tossed her own parchment into the fire. It didn't change the colors.

"I think he's right," said Walter.

He scowled. Someone had tried to bewitch Adrian with a letter.

"Adrian, I think you and Walter should stay overnight at the school for a few days. Megan, we'll see about getting some tutors once we have a list of courses you can learn with your core as it is," said Rose.

"Alright Ma," said Adrian. Obviously they wanted the children out of the house for a few days while the consulate cleared up this mess. Especially since they learned Adrian was an empath. He didn't do well when tensions and emotions ran high.

They returned almost a week later. Rose seemed furious about something, but refused to tell them anything.

All they were told was that the British had tried to get above themselves and pull rank, but it failed miserably because the man who represented the magical consulate had been there.

Rose was primarily angry because of how rude the man had been towards them.

"Ma?"

"It's nothing dear," she said, cooling her anger. Poor Adrian had to be born an empath. "Just some rude Englishmen who think their blood is all it takes to get what they want."

"Oh. So we're still going to Le Fay's?"

"You'll not be rid of us that quick, Adrian," said Rose with a laugh.

* * *

 _Two months later..._

"What. Did. You. Do. Walter?" said Adrian hissing.

"I just wanted the blueprints for our wall," said Walter sheepishly, as the document finished printing out. Just in time to hear the men break down the door, scaring their mother and Megan.

Walter had begun learning how to code computers at school, and Adrian had dutifully learned with him. He had thought nothing of it when he saw the oddly complicated script, since the teachers liked challenging them.

At least until he realized Walter had hacked into something he shouldn't with Adrian's help.

"If we get arrested for this, I'm blaming you," said Adrian. Walter grinned back at him sheepishly.

When the men broke into their room, Adrian was quick to say "Walter's an idiot, but please don't shoot him!"

"It's just a couple of kids..." said one soldier in disbelief.

Adrian shot Walter a look, and he had an embarrassed expression on his face.

"We're so grounded for this," muttered Adrian.


	2. Chapter 2

It had been nearly fifteen years since that day when Cabe had found him and Adrian, and a lot had changed.

Very little of it for the better.

First had been that stupid tournament the British had forced Adrian in against his will. Then they dragged him into a war he didn't even want to be a part of, much less be involved in. Then _his_ software is used to drop bombs instead of aid packages.

To top it all off, he had been forced to flee Ireland with Megan after the so called "Good Guys" tried to use them in an effort to control Adrian. Megan agreed to develop a debilitating illness, so she could 'die' and come back with her real features later.

He still couldn't find Adrian.

Walter looked up from his 'office' in the loft to see...an owl? Feeling a bad sensation in his stomach, he cautiously let it in after hitting it with a dozen spells to remove any magic on it other than the standard postal owl magic.

He carefully removed the parchment...and three seconds later was about to start making travel plans, until he read the bottom.

 _'Dear Mr. O'Brien_

 _We at St. Mungo's would like to offer you our sincere condolences in regards to the deteriorating condition of your brother Harry Potter. As there is little our staff can do at this time to bring him back from the trapped state he is currently in, we would like your consent to move Mr. Potter to our long term care ward. If, however, you wish to make alternate arrangements to provide for your brother at home, please reply no later than the twenty-seventh of September, otherwise we will be forced to release him._

 _Again our sincere condolences towards his condition._

 _Sincerely..."_

Walter was many things, but he didn't forget that owl that had shown up along with Megan's letter with the wrong name.

He quickly wrote a reply, stating he would be waiting at the nearest international port key area. Thankfully there was one within driving distance.

* * *

 _One day later..._

"I'm going to be gone for a day or two. Happy, you're in charge," said Walter.

"Got it."

"Walter, where are you going?" asked Sylvester nervously.

"It's just going to be for a few days. A few...migraine-worthy...days," said Walter.

"Okay, now I'm interested. What's going on?" asked Toby. Walter seemed happy about something, but at the same time vastly irritated and expectant.

"I have to deal with complete idiots while getting someone back after they've been missing a few years," said Walter, not wanting to give this surprise away.

He had created Scorpion to give Genii like himself a safe haven. A place where their talents and minds could be put to good use. But that wasn't the full reason he had done it.

He had primarily gathered them so he could use their help in getting Adrian back, once he found out where the wizards stashed him.

But it looked like now they'd be serving as a safe haven for Adrian to establish a baseline.

The collective geniuses of Scorpion (minus their boss) looked up when they heard someone talking emphatically in another language, and hearing someone who sounded almost like Walter replying in the same tongue. Except it wasn't in English.

So imagine their surprise when Walter walked in. And with a guest.

"Walt, who's this?" asked Toby.

"And what language are you speaking?" added Happy.

"You do know I'm Irish, right?" said Walter, looking openly amused. He immigrated to the USA because of the war, and they had pretty much opened the borders to all magically-born children trying to leave the country and live in America.

It had taken little work at all to get a green card for him and Megan.

"So who's your friend?"

The man next to Walter grinned. He had hair tied up in a ponytail, green eyes hidden behind thick frames, and a skinny build to put Toby to shame.

He also looked like he hadn't seen the sun in several years.

"This is Adrian O'Brien. My brother."

"You have a brother?" was the common consensus.

Adrian snorted, and said something in Irish with had Walter nodding in absolute agreement.

"I might not speak whatever language that is, but I know an insult when I hear one," said Happy in warning.

"He wasn't talking about any of you. Just the idiots who locked him up in the _worst_ place possible. He has an extremely high EQ compared to my IQ," explained Walter.

Really, locking him in a hospital for close to five long, painful years after trying to break him into their personal weapon was the _worst_ thing they could have done. Either Adrian kept the fact he was an empath secret, or they were deliberately trying to hurt him.

Walter was really hoping it was the former.

"I'm an empath," said Adrian bluntly, his accent very clearly Irish. "Means I pick up on emotions better than anyone else, but it also means I get overwhelmed in places like hospitals. Fortunately there are protocols in the place some idiots locked me up because I didn't agree to their stupidity, and they contacted Walter."

Seeing their skepticism, Walter avoided sighing.

"Adrian does better around people with low EQ and not around crowds. He's also good at coding," said Walter, hoping he wouldn't have to reveal magic to them...or the mess Adrian was quite literally dragged into.

"I still blame you for us nearly getting arrested for hacking NASA," said Adrian.

Walter glared at him.

"I'm liking him already," said Happy.

"So, brother O' mine, care to introduce us?" chirped Adrian.

"This is Happy, Toby and Sylvester," said Walter.

"I'm guessing mechanic," said Adrian, looking at the tools on Happy's desk. "You're a natural mathematician...and what are you?"

"Behavioral specialist," supplied Toby.

Adrian smirked. Walter knew that look.

"No playing poker against Toby...or helping him try to con people while playing," said Walter.

"You're no fun at all sometimes," pouted Adrian.

"No, I just don't want to hear you whining about getting your ass kicked because you went playing with Toby and he pissed someone off," corrected Walter.

"I only heard him say poker was off-limits," said Adrian to Toby, winking at him.

Toby perked up.

"I like the way you think."

And with that, Adrian quietly settled into Scorpion. He seemed to fit right in with the collective oddballs.

* * *

"What do you mean you released him to his brother?! He doesn't _have_ a brother!" said an irate young woman.

"According to the records, he does. A brother and a sister. You know all files are double checked every five years, especially when the patient is scheduled to be sent to the long-term ward like he was. And his brother signed off as his guardian, seeing as how he's already caring for their sister," replied the healer calmly.

"Don't get smart with me, Malfoy. Where is he?"

"He was an absolute wreck and his condition was deteriorating rapidly the longer he was kept here. So the Chief Healer decided to move him to the long term ward since he didn't seem to be improving after the battle. That's when they found out he had a brother who happens to be the heir of a minor pure blood clan in Ireland. Naturally the rules say we have to contact any living family members in the event that the patient has to be moved to long term. He indicated he would rather keep Harry home than spend a large sum of money on people who haven't found out why he has so many panic attacks," stated Draco flatly. "And really Weaslette, if you actually cared about him you would have moved him _years_ ago."

Ginny seethed.

"Coincidentally according to the Americans, any and all attempts to reclaim or otherwise harass Potter will result in being thrown in _their_ magical jails...and they don't use dementors."

Ginny scoffed, and stormed out of the hospital. Malfoy watched her leave with dark amusement.

He alone had figured out Potter...no, O'Brien, was an empath. The moment he did, he started looking into any possible family.

For all of his snark and irritating attitude, O'Brien was the first to treat him with dignity and not immediately assume he was evil because he had been sorted into Slytherin. So it was a bit of a shock learning the Potter heir had been adopted into a minor pure blood clan in Ireland...and that someone had gone in and tried to wipe out their memories of him.

Fortunately, it looked like they had missed the son.

Which meant he could legally hand off O'Brien to his brother, who took the fact Draco had personally tracked him down and started the paperwork to alert him rather well.

Or, if he was reading the look this Walter was giving his brother, at least he wouldn't ruin him financially once Harry was well enough to function again. Walter looked pissed when he found out where Harry had vanished to. And that it had been his so-called 'friends' who deliberately dumped him and lost the initial paperwork.

Draco owed the current head of the Black family (following Sirius' death) his freedom.

* * *

"So you're working at an animal shelter?" said Walter.

"More animals than humans...and apparently the empathy thing makes them easier to adopt out."

"And animals have a limited range of emotions compared to humans," said Walter, rubbing his neck.

"I'll still be here to help, but at least this way I have something to do with my time other than acting as your personal linguist," said Adrian.

Adrian, in an effort to contribute to Scorpion as a whole and not feel left out, decided to become their personal translator. It didn't hurt that he cheated like crazy because he could. He didn't have to, but he needed _something_ to do and feel useful.

"Plus, it doesn't hurt that I speak snake and happen to be able to turn into a bird," added Adrian.

"Say what now?"

"I'm a parselmouth, and my animal form is a bird," repeated Adrian.

"This I have to see."

One minute Adrian was there, the next a massive black bird with long tail feathers was sitting on his chair. It trilled in amusement before hopping onto Walter's arm. Walter had an evil idea.

Toby happened to be freaked by birds.

"How would you like to prank the others?"

Adrian trilled and bobbed his head. You could tell there was an evil glint in his eye.

Walter managed to hide his amusement as he walked into the garage with Adrian firmly on his shoulder like some sort of twisted parrot.

Toby yelped the second he saw him, and Walter was really, really trying not to laugh.

"What is that?" said Happy, eyeing Adrian warily.

"It's a bird."

"I can see that, but what kind is it?"

"I don't know, but he seems pretty friendly," said Walter. "He was on the car when I came in this morning."

"Walter, I am really uncomfortable having a bird that big in the garage," stated Sylvester nervously.

"I'll second that!" said Toby emphatically.

If only he could reveal magic to them. But to be honest he could use this as a reoccurring prank if he played his cards right.

"I'll go let him out upstairs. He might just fly off once I leave the window open."

Adrian grinned in his bird form, catching on to Walter's idea immediately. Pranks were in his blood, and this was a fairly harmless one.

Walter went upstairs with his brother and managed not to laugh the entire time. At least not until he got to the roof.

"That was hilarious."

"I know right? And next time tell them I'm a phoenix. Or I could give you the scientific name for it," said Adrian, snickering.

"Probably best to go with the scientific name," said Walter, grinning.

His EQ levels always started to elevate around Adrian, just like his brother's IQ went up a bit around Walter. They seemed to feed off each other.

"So if they're that freaked about a bird, what would happen around a dog?"

"Probably not. Though it would be funny if you brought a snake home or something. Or maybe an iguana," said Walter grinning.

"Or I could really freak them out with a large cat," said Adrian.

"Not like you couldn't afford it, and seeing people's reactions would be hysterical."

Walter had no issue with his brother bringing an animal into the garage. Adrian was very responsible, and they almost had a dog or a cat before he was suddenly kidnapped. It was supposed to act as a secondary shield against his ability in the event Walter wasn't around.

It would have been registered as a service animal, considering Adrian had trouble functioning in large crowds without being overwhelmed.


	3. Chapter 3

Adrian took one look at the kid in the diner he frequented, and the next time he came, he came armed with the best way of recognizing a child genii.

Walter had been annoyingly good at chess too.

"So what's her name?" asked Walter.

"Her name is Paige and her son is Ralph. And get this...he's like you."

"How so?"

"Child genii. Don't think Paige has figured why her son is so different but she seems to appreciate having a free babysitter her son can actually talk with."

Paige had been beyond relieved when Ralph started talking to Adrian, and when Adrian offered to babysit for free whenever she had a late shift. Ralph seemed to like him, and a discreet talk with the people he worked with at the shelter was all she needed to hear. So when Adrian came to her home, armed with a chess set, she hadn't batted an eye. It wasn't like he needed the money, and Ralph just needed someone who understood him.

Walter hid a smile. It was nice to see his brother socializing normally, considering the hell he had been through for over a decade.

"Speaking of having a life...who's your doctor friend?"

"Soon to be gone. She correctly deduced I have trouble connecting with normal humans and frankly I think it's cruel to keep dragging her along."

"Bullshit. You found her boring after three months and decided she wasn't worth the effort of pretending to like her, so you're dumping her," countered Adrian. Walter had the good grace to not lie.

Mostly because Adrian was literally a walking lie detector.

"What was the name of that diner you go to again...?"

"No. Absolutely not. You are not going to try and convince Paige to date me."

"Actually it was because I was contracted to fix a wireless signal in a diner," said Walter.

"Oh. Actually I'm fairly certain it is the one I go to a lot, because the owner was complaining about it yesterday," said Adrian.

"I'm driving," said Walter, grinning.

"Not a chance. Not after I managed to bribe the guy at for my license after that minor hiccup concerning my immigration status."

"And yet you still can't even beat Sly at that racing game," Walter shot back.

Adrian scowled.

* * *

"Hey Paige," said Adrian, waving at the waitress before settling in with his chess set across from Ralph. The quiet sound of pieces clacking on the board was heard while Walter calmly explained to his soon-to-be former girlfriend that he was dumping her.

"Hey Adrian. So who's he?"

"That...would be my highly intelligent yet, utterly incapable of holding down a steady girlfriend brother named Walter. He agreed to fix the wireless, so he offered me a ride."

Paige eyed Walter up. He was cute, she supposed, but he seemed to have trouble understanding how people worked.

Seeing her look, Adrian smiled wryly.

"Geniuses the level Walter's at have a high Intelligence Quotient, but their EQ, or Emotional Quotient tends to be low to compensate. Which is why we work great as a team. I'm not as smart as he is, but I can understand people better. He has trouble understanding normal people, but he's excellent at problem solving and bringing people together," said Adrian. Then he grinned evilly. "And I may or may not have dressed him up as Dogbert last Halloween."

Paige's mouth quirked upwards.

"He looks more like a Dilbert to me," she said.

"Nah, he's got an evil streak a mile wide and he's ambitious enough to suit Dogbert better. I can't see Walter working a cubicle day in and day out like a drone and not going insane from boredom," said Adrian with a straight face.

"I heard that. You staying?" asked Walter.

"As always. I can keep an eye on Ralph while Paige works. I'll call you if I need a lift home," said Adrian. Walter understood what Adrian wasn't saying.

He was discreetly using Ralph as a shield against the other diner patrons, and it would never get crowded enough to overwhelm him even at it's busiest. He had turned the place into another safe zone for him to just calm down.

"I'll pick you up when you call," said Walter, heading back to the garage.

Adrian nodded. A few hours later he pulled out a tablet and slid it over to Ralph.

"Bet you can't calculate the trajectory well enough to beat my high score on _Angry Birds_ ," challenged Adrian.

Ralph had a slight grin on his face as he accepted the challenge, and was sufficiently distracted enough to start launching the birds.

What he didn't know was that Adrian had borrowed Walter's tablet...those were actually his high scores, and Adrian had been attempting to annoy him by beating them. Hell, even Sylvester had beaten his high scores at the game.

Adrian occasionally ordered food, mostly to keep the owner happy. Mostly he just ordered tea.

So it was a complete surprise when Walter showed up with...

"Is that... No way. I thought they had a falling out after that?" said Adrian to himself.

Why was Walter with Cabe after that mess with Baghdad?

Cabe looked at him...and two seconds later Adrian could see recognition on his face.

"Well I suppose if anyone could track down wherever you disappeared to, it would be Walter."

Cabe obviously remembered Adrian. Hell, Cabe was the reason _Walter_ remembered his brother in the first place! If he hadn't taken Walter for to some special science exhibit at NASA for a month, then Walter would have been there when the wizard came and erased their memories of Adrian.

As it was, Walter had the unenviable task of reminding them of their third child. At least Cabe had helped, even if he didn't understand why they suddenly forgot Adrian.

"Actually someone had to tell Walter where I was, and he picked me up at the air port. He was not happy."

Walter had taken the pictures and names of those who had left Adrian in that hospital and kept him from his brother...and he let his usually dormant vindictive streak kick in.

Out of all of them, Granger had been hit the worst. Walter took her entire life apart, and since she was one of the few who had muggle records...well, she'd have great difficulty getting a job in the mundane world.

"Adrian, can you stay?" said Walter.

"You do realize I was planning to spend the next couple of hours here anyway right? You're not chasing me off...not while he's here," said Adrian, nodding to Cabe.

Walter didn't express it, but Adrian knew he was relieved. Cabe, however, felt slightly hurt by the fact Walter was using his brother as a shield from him.

"So what's happening?"

"LAX updated it's software, and it had a bug. Now they need the old software or they can't land their planes."

"...And why exactly can't they just go old school?" asked Adrian.

"Old school?" said Cabe.

"People landed planes before computers. There has to be a way for someone with a plane to land without them."

"I'll pass that idea along," said Cabe. It wouldn't work on all of the planes, but it might help a few to land.

"So...how do you know these people?" asked Paige.

"Well you've met my brother. Sly, Happy and Toby are all people who he's...rescued...over the years from bad situations and given them a home where they can use their intelligence in a safe environment without outside pressures. Unfortunately they're rather dysfunctional in a normal setting and they have trouble with day-to-day problems. They can barely keep the bills paid, much less do anything. As for Cabe...well, he's complicated."

"And you work for your brother...how?"

"Linguist. I can't keep up with them in their own fields, and I mostly act as a buffer since I have the highest EQ in current history, but I can at least translate for them when they need it."

Paige could understand how that could be useful...if Adrian wasn't too busy using his brother as a shield. She had noticed he flinched whenever tensions ran high around the diner, especially when couples were fighting. It was probably very helpful for someone like Adrian to be around someone who had trouble comprehending emotions.

Paige instead decided to ask "What does a high EQ mean?"

Adrian winced.

"Do you know what an empath is?"

"Not really."

"Certain studies show that some people develop an overactive part in their brains... like Walter for instance. His left brain is more active than his right, leading to a higher rational ratio, but lowering his ability to process emotions naturally. I, on the other hand, have the opposite problem. My right brain is significantly higher than the left, but I still have a decently high IQ. As a result of that, I process emotions more deeply than normal. So much that I can literally pinpoint what people are feeling with a hundred percent accuracy and it's almost impossible for people to lie to me. The proper term for someone who can do that is an Empath," explained Adrian.

"How high an IQ?" asked Paige.

"Five points higher than Einstein. We had it tested after Walter scored so high," said Adrian proudly. Needless to say it had made Walter happy when he found out.

"Wow...that's impressive."

"Let's just say I have experience recognizing a true child genii on sight because of my brother. It's how I knew Ralph would respond well to chess...and attempting to beat Walter's score at _Angry Birds_."

"So you're the one who stole my tablet."

"You know me. I couldn't resist the idea of trying to beat your score and then having you find out," said Adrian grinning.

"Focus. We have planes about to crash here," said Cabe.

Adrian rolled his eyes, and made sure Cabe knew it. Cabe scowled.

* * *

Adrian was the prankster of the two brothers, and when he had disappeared Walter had been devastated. It had only gotten worse when he couldn't find his brother.

So it came as little surprise when Cabe eventually managed to isolate Adrian alone for a private chat. Well out of Walter's hearing.

Before Cabe could say anything, Adrian raised a single hand.

"Before we start this, I have to ask. Do you know about magic?"

"The cheap slight of hand or the real thing?"

"The real thing. As in wand-waving idiots speaking bastardized Latin."

"I'm high enough to be in the know. At least that it exists."

"That makes this infinitely easier. Long story short, Walter and I are both wizards, though my core is significantly higher than his, as is my bank account. Some idiots from the British magical government had this tournament that someone put my birth name in, and it dragged me from the library by force. I spent five years being toted about as their 'savior', before they dumped me in their hospital where I spent the next five years going slowly insane. If not for one of my magical cousins on my dad's side, I'd still be there. And I would have left years ago if I had the chance, but they had the magical equivalent of an electric dog collar on me. That answer any questions you have?"

"Most of them," agreed Cabe. "What about Megan?"

"She's faking her illness, because Walter didn't know the USA had thrown open the borders for any magicals fleeing Europe. And since he had already set the stage for her having 'MS', they thought she was a squib unlucky enough to have developed a mundane disease. Once the potion runs it's course, she's going to drop the lie and use our mother's maiden name to avoid being busted."

Unless she found someone she liked enough to marry. Then she could just take their name and Walter would miraculously find a 'cure'. Or at least something to make her slowly regain the muscle definition she lost.

Adrian perked up.

"I think they might have something."

He could feel Walter's excitement bubbling up, and the adrenaline rush from the others. Even Sylvester was happy and eager.

"You really can sense them."

"I have a high empathy rating. And it doesn't hurt that I'm familiar with almost everyone in the diner," said Adrian shrugging.

He went back to watching Ralph, since his primary purpose with the group was to keep Walter from slipping off the deep end.

Happy had told him of another genius they had in Scorpion. The man was as smart as Walter, but he let the dark side of having a high IQ drag him into a bad place. He suddenly disappeared, and not a single one of them felt like finding out where he went. They were just glad he was gone.

However with Adrian around, Walter seemed more aware of himself. Happy had noticed he took more care in eating regularly and not going without sleep for days on end. She had dragged him out once from that place...she just hoped she never had to do that again.

Going inside, he found them all excited. The emotions ran a simple pattern. Excitement, disappointment, hope, frustration, hope again... it was enough to make an empath like Adrian dizzy.

Except these were geniuses. Their EQ quota was well below the normal, and he was used to basking in their emotions on a calm day.

Adrian had found he was very, very adept at managing during high-stress situations with ease. He was a natural leader, much like Walter apparently was when it came to his own.

It was low-stress situations that made him antsy. After being stuck in a war he had nothing to do with for five long years, he had gotten used to the rush of adrenaline and had been forced to use that as a coping mechanism for his empathy. Then the sudden removal of that had left him flailing in a sea of emotions where tensions were very high almost ninety percent of the time, driving him slowly insane until he could barely function.

Having Walter as a familiar baseline had helped him to stabilize and recover with shocking efficiency. Thankfully Walter knew instinctively that his brother needed him, because he hadn't questioned Adrian living with him.

He was probably terrified deep down that Adrian would go missing without any warning again.

And when Paige left to drive Walter, Adrian stayed with Ralph. It took little time before he brought up the _Monopoly_ app and challenged the boy to a game.

Last time he played was against Toby. Walter and Happy looked very much like they wanted to laugh themselves sick when Adrian not only won, but left Toby is so much "debt" that there was no way in hell he'd be able to win.

All within an hour of play.

Mouth quirking upward at the memory, Adrian couldn't resist reminding him of it.

"Hey Toby, don't you still owe me five thousand _Monopoly_ dollars from the last time we played?"

"You cheated, I know you did. No one could manipulate the dice that well!" said Toby.

"...We were playing on a spare tablet, and I never bothered to hack the programming. How is it my fault that I bought most of the property, yet somehow kept landing in the jail?"

That was the main reason he won. Adrian bought four separate 'Monopolies' on the board within the first three rotations, then built up hotels and somehow managed to land in jail with disturbing efficiency. He mostly kept rolling the dice until he got doubles or was forced to pay bail, but Toby's luck had him landing on the hotels Adrian built during his turn while he was waiting.

And no, Adrian hadn't bothered to hack the game's programming at the time.

Sylvester looked up from his laptop and Adrian could _feel_ his relief and excitement.

"They sent the software!"

All in all, an interesting day indeed.

He managed to secure a ride with the others, and subtly took his place next to Happy, who's cynical outlook he found refreshing.

He was just glad to get some sleep, knowing that more excitement like today would be coming, and soon.


	4. Chapter 4

Walter looked at the letter, and hated himself for the extremes he had thought necessary to protect himself and his sister. Megan had long since forgiven him, but she blamed the English for why they had been necessary...and for taking her other little brother.

When supplied proof that he did exist, hard evidence that couldn't be refuted, most of the memories came back, save for those naturally forgotten.

If Megan had been angry, his parents had been beyond furious.

They also never said a word against Cabe taking him for long periods of time again, even if the fact he was so naturally good at mundane things like coding bothered them.

They weren't as stuck up as the English pure bloods, but they still had trouble with computers. Give them the old ways any day.

Adrian sidled up behind his brother. Then he saw the letter.

"MS?" he read, disbelieving.

"I had to make sure Megan and I escaped, so I gave her a semi-illegal potion to mimic the effects of a muggle disease. Unfortunately the antidote is really expensive, and I'm not entirely sure the one I bought is still viable."

"Which one is it?"

Walter told him.

"Yeah...if it was brought more than six years ago, it's useless now. Fortunately there is an alternate cure. Phoenix tears, fresh ones willingly given."

"Do you have any idea how expensive..." started Walter, before he felt like hitting himself. Adrian's grin made him want to kick his brother.

Adrian was a phoenix. A full-fledged one, if the tears he had shed earlier that week to heal his hand after Walter broke the cup and it bounced back and cut his hand were any indication.

That had been a stressful day. Fortunately Adrian was better at infiltration than Walter was entirely comfortable with.

He still had no idea where the hell Adrian got an invisibility cloak. It was undeniably useful, and Adrian didn't have nearly as many hang-ups about the bio-lab as Sylvester did. Then again as a Phoenix, it would take something very dark...or very nasty...to stick to him. And that was only a level two...nothing in there was even remotely capable of attaching itself to him and sticking.

He had made copies of the trial records, then flamed out with an amused look on his face.

"Some days I don't know whether to hate this job or love it."

"You do realize we could support Scorpion for the remainder of our lives without the government, right?" said Adrian, leaning against the desk.

"Yes, but I don't want Toby to fall into temptation and end up in a room where he might do more damage to the team than good. If he knew he could enter the high stakes rooms..."

Walter didn't need to say anything.

Low-stakes poker, which Toby was familiar with, was relatively harmless. He only hurt himself with it, or anyone dumb enough to join him.

High-stakes poker was a different story. The people who went to those games had power, influence, and more often than not, a disturbing lack of general morals when it came to human lives. Losing...or winning too much...at those kinds of games could bring a large amount of trouble that they didn't need and most certainly couldn't handle. Trouble Cabe and the government would be unable to help with.

So it was probably a good thing Toby didn't know Walter was living with the richest man in Europe...even if it had been split three ways between the siblings.

The Potter wealth and the wealth of some of the so called "noble" families had caused his vault to skyrocket in terms of wealth.

He had divided the 'lesser' noble family fortunes between Walter and Megan, not that they were aware of it since they had fled shortly after the war started to get nasty.

"So when can we remove Megan from that facility?"

"We have to do it gradually. Make it look like she's slowly starting to combat the disease, otherwise people will start asking questions," said Walter tiredly.

"That reminds me. This came by owl earlier this morning. Along with my _Quibbler_ subscription."

"What is it?"

"Just read."

Walter took the envelope, then scanned the documents.

"Is this what I think it is?"

"We're given full permission to deal with anyone trying to interfere with us on official business or attempting to put me into a hospital against my will again however we see fit. Means we can legally upgrade the ward schemes around the building, and they won't do anything about the people stupid enough to breach it since this was registered as my place of residence."

Adrian either stayed with Walter, usually when he was having a relapse of PTSD from the war, or lived in the loft above the garage. He didn't care about sleeping on the couch, and he kept the fridge fully stocked.

"If I can make a comprehensive ward scheme, can you power it?"

"Do you really have to ask?" said Adrian amused. "I generally _live_ here after all. I could get a decent ward stone within days."

Then Adrian cocked his head.

"Don't you have that test this morning?"

"Don't remind me," groaned Walter. He had come in early because he couldn't sleep.

"Go. Be with the team. I'll hold the fort until you get back," said Adrian grinning. "In the meantime, I will be here playing with some of Happy's toys."

Walter grinned.

"I may or may not have bought something you're all going love. It's coming in today," said Adrian.

"What is it?"

"It's a surprise... that cost a good chunk of gold and even more for shipping. I'll be driving a truck since it's not exactly normal to have...and it's coming in from Germany. Some of my contacts with them helped expedite the process."

"It's not illegal is it?"

"More like highly regulated."

Walter looked at the time. They were going to be late.

* * *

Adrian was passing by the air port when he first heard the explosion. He ignored it, figuring Scorpion would be dragged in eventually, and continued driving past the mundane section and straight to the magical shipping and processing.

"You Adrian O'Brien?" asked the German.

"Aye, I am."

"Sign here. Magical signature here. And don't forget the tip."

Adrian handed over ten gold coins, which satisfied the German who had the item loaded up. With that done, he drove back to the garage.

It was chaos.

"Our internet is down!"

"Huh...guess my surprise will be better received than I thought," said Adrian, mostly to himself.

"Hey, can someone give me a hand unloading this thing and hopefully setting it up?" he called out.

"Really not the time," said Walter.

"It is if the internet is down."

Happy got into the truck...and stared.

"This is a 5000-series aggregation router. Highly advanced, and not technically on the market. Where exactly did you get this?"

"Berlin. Some people owe me favors, and nothing says they have to be personal. They were happy to send me one in exchange for not spreading some blackmail I happen to have on them," said Adrian with a straight face.

"This is perfect. We get this installed and up, and internet services will be restored in hours," said Walter.

"Figured you'd like it. This is what happens when you leave your techie magazines in the bathroom," said Adrian. "Thought it would be a nice surprise for everyone, after that mess with LAX."

It took relatively little time for them to get the internet back up...needless to say most of the city was happy.

"Makes up for all the pranks I left in your house, doesn't it?" said Adrian.

"Not even close. I still haven't forgiven you for those three minutes and fifty-six seconds as a canary," Walter shot back. He had counted. He had been checking the time when he ate that cream puff, and had been watching the clock once the initial shock ended.

"Well that's good to know. Think Cabe could handle being a bird for nearly four minutes?"

"Cabe is a mundane, I checked."

"He's also in the government, and do you really think they wouldn't put two and two together and tell him about magic? He didn't know you were a wizard I told him though."

"Who else have you told?"

"Walter, I only did it because there was no logical way for me to explain how our family suddenly forgot about me or why you were unable to find where I disappeared to for ten years."

Walter made a face. He hated it when Adrian used _logic_ to explain an illogical decision.

"So what exactly is going on today?"

"A bomber deliberately took out the hard-line cables for the internet."

"Ouch, explains the explosion I heard while I was picking this up. So how did the test go?"

"Badly. Happy punched a Marine."

Adrian winced.

"I think it's past time I introduced the team to Puffy."

"...Puffy?"

"I was half-insane and Malfoy was the one who named it. At that point I didn't really care about the name," said Adrian. He reached into his pocket and pulled out...a puffskien? "This is a last resort shield in the event my empathy ability goes into overload. And he really, really doesn't like it when I focus all that into him. Unfortunately I kept killing the other animals they kept trying to use, but these breed like rabbits."

"Does this have anything to do with why I found a file stating you were knighted by the Queen of England under your birth name?"

"Possibly."

"Or why it took five years before you were finally released?"

"...I refuse to answer on the grounds that I know for a fact you'll get angry, and we need you to have a cool head."

"Give me something I can live with, but still not be happy about."

"The main reason they left me in there was because they were afraid of power."

"Power?"

"Political, monetary, magical, influence...take your pick. Add to the fact that the Potters are an old family, and with me as the new Head of the Black clan, that means that they had a lot of motivation to be rid of me. But they were too afraid of what I could do to get payback for kidnapping me in the first place, and the fact I was pissed about the whole leash thing. So they tried to tie me to another old family, but I wasn't even remotely interested in the girl. Then they found out I couldn't handle being in a hospital so they just left me there and forgot about me."

Walter's expression wasn't happy, but he was willing to ignore it until after this mess was sorted out. Adrian was right...he needed to remember his immediate priorities.

Plus there was the small fact that he had already _ruined_ said people responsible for the worst of it.

Don't piss off the overprotective nerd with the 197 IQ.

* * *

Adrian was cooking up some dinner while the others ran off to do something behind Cabe's back. Walter was seriously overprotective over his brother, and he disliked having to put Adrian in high-stress situations when his power could overwhelm him at the worst time.

Never mind it was his ability to refocus that ability that got him through five years in a war zone, and it had only backfired when the stress level had dropped to normal levels.

So he held down the fort, tightening up the ward scheme Walter had made a rough draft of, and planning on where he would find the appropriate ward stone that would be discreetly hidden in a place Walter could access.

He also made dinner, because with all the chaos the thought of eating would likely never pass their minds.

He started working on the bare bones of the wards when Walter came in, looking exhausted.

"Thank Morrigan for the vanishing charm," he muttered.

He was Irish, and considering the Bible clearly stated that witches were evil, most pure blood clans worshiped a pagan deity. And Walter had always been a fan of the Hound of Ireland.

"I have lasagna and to-go containers," said Adrian. Hearing the quiet cheer from the team, he knew the idea of food was welcomed...it didn't hurt that Adrian had, in an effort to off-set the anger he felt at being kidnapped, taken multiple cooking lessons.

It was either that, or learn what the British deemed acceptable for public use.

Yeah, not happening. He was an Irish through and through, and no matter what they tried he refused to use those weak Latin-based spells.

Adrian had made two batches, mostly because he wasn't entirely sure how hungry they'd be.

He made sure Sylvester got a double portion along with Ralph, once they picked him up.


	5. Chapter 5

"Did I hear the words Vegas?" said Adrian eagerly.

"You're not going," said Walter flatly.

"Come on Walter, you're only going there to deal with some firewall and idiots cheating. Where's the danger? I could use a vacation," said Adrian, just shy of pleading.

"You're not gambling with Toby," said Walter finally.

"Deal," said Adrian quickly. Too quickly. Walter narrowed his eyes at him.

"You're going to go out gambling anyway aren't you?"

"It's not gambling when you have a higher percentage than normal at winning. Besides I'm planning to hit tables Toby wouldn't have a chance in hell of entering," said Adrian.

By which he meant the magical high stakes no limit poker tables.

"Don't expect me to bail you out, and I want you to leave when it proves too much."

"Relax, I'm bringing insurance. Familiars are allowed in the rooms so long as they aren't used to cheat."

Puffy wasn't a familiar, but it could hardly be used to cheat.

Adrian barely refrained from cackling at all the money he was going to get.

He _never_ lost at poker. Or black jack, come to think of it.

Then remembering something, he wrote his cell number down.

"Paige, if there's an emergency or something happens...or if you need someone to bail you out in general, call this number. It's a direct line to my cell and I'll wire the money."

"Where are you going?"

"You don't need a translator, they're more than sufficiently smart enough to handle almost anything that comes up, and I'm using this as a vacation. However what Scorpion lacks is sheer capital, which would only really needed if Toby manages to lose too much or if you need a large amount of bail money," shrugged Adrian.

Considering how gleeful he was about going to Vegas, Paige had serious doubts about whether it was smart to bring him along.

"Call me if you need me," said Adrian, hailing a cab.

"Which hotel are you staying at?"

"Well they usually comp rooms if you prove you're competent...I'll call Sylvester and give him the address once they give me a room."

Out of all of them, Sly was the only one who would likely remember it without having to write it down.

Within a few moments, Adrian was heading to a casino that didn't belong to the one Walter was going to help. If things went south, they would need a reasonable explanation for why Adrian had bail money in the first place.

Unspoken was the fact that Adrian would be splitting his winnings evenly with the group, without their knowledge. Well, monetary anyway.

* * *

 _An hour later..._

"Welcome, sir, to the Jade Dragon. Please surrender your wands, magical items, and any weapons or potions. They will be returned to you when you depart the tables."

Adrian dropped his two wands, then he dropped the two Hallows which hadn't left him since he claimed the damn things. As an after thought, he brought out Puffy.

"Are puffskiens banned from the tables? He's a bit of a good luck charm for me."

"One moment sir. Your...pet...is acceptable provided you do not activate any divination spells on him."

Adrian made sure Puffy was on his shoulder, where it purred content.

"A puffskien, really?" said a voice from the back.

"It's my good luck charm and people generally don't retaliate if you throw it at them when you think or even know they're cheating. Usually they're too busy saying 'You threw a puffskien at me' with an incredulous expression to think about attacking back."

Hearing the round of snorts that came from the table, few said another word about the oddball wizard.

"So where are ye from laddie?" asked a man with a thick highlands accent.

"Huh...guess I've been in the country long enough to lose my accent... I'm Irish, but I was forced to live in Scotland and then England for ten years."

That got the attention of everyone in the room. As one, they all put down their cards and looked at him. Really looked.

"Bloody hell. I thought you went missing after the fight at Hogwarts," said the Scotsman.

"The idiots locked me in St. Mungo's for five years were I slowly went insane. If not for Malfoy I would still be there," replied Adrian flatly. "For future reference my name is Adrian O'Brien, not Harry Potter. I haven't gone by that name since I was five and during the brief time I was with the Brits because they refused to let their 'savior' go."

Adrian sat down at the first table there.

"So are we going to deal or sit around staring at someone who has little interest in fame?" he asked.

It took a few moments, but their amusement went from shock to respect. Unlike most of the idiots who came out of Europe these days, Adrian had _built_ his reputation among the foreign magical societies with his adopted name, rather than his birth name.

After he explained the situation repeatedly, Britain's star went on the decline as his own rose...this time for his _own_ accomplishments, not for what he supposedly did as an infant.

Their respect only went up the more hands were played. Adrian had a hundred percent accuracy when it came to detecting with other players had a decent hand or not. If he didn't think his own would reasonably beat whatever they potentially had, he folded within the first two times it was his turn. And since he could tell when people were faking emotions...because they would always switch back to one previously with regularity...he made a point to bet small at first (for a high stakes poker game) before raising the stakes if he had a read on the people around him.

He had thrown Puffy three times, twice at one wizard trying to cheat with a wandless switching spell and once at the man behind him for cheating using a muggle device to switch cards.

As he had pointed out, people were too busy being incredulous at the fact he threw a puffskien at them to think immediately about retaliating back.

He was at it for five hours, was up nearly five hundred million in gold and a large amount of personal favors, magical books or trade contracts, when his phone started to vibrate.

As he had explained to the others, the hotel they were staying at comped him a room for the night.

Adrian looked at his hand, knew he couldn't reasonably win this unless his luck went up for a bit, and folded before excusing himself from the table for a brief moment.

"What's up? Whoa, whoa... Slow down. Walter's _what_?"

" _Walter's been arrested for helping some robbers that came out of nowhere and disappeared. Walter tried to find them but couldn't, so they're blaming him as an accomplice. They set his bail at five hundred thousand,"_ explained Paige, and you could hear the worry in her voice.

Adrian pinched his nose.

"And Walter was worried _I'd_ be the one who needed bailing out. Where are you staying?"

Armed with an address, Adrian reluctantly left the game and reclaimed his items. But he'd be back in a few hours at most.

* * *

 _Fifty minutes later..._

"Where is he?" said Happy. They had called Adrian almost an hour ago, and Toby was already about to be kicked out of the regular poker tables. He was earning too much too fast.

Paige jumped when Adrian tapped her on the shoulder.

"Don't scare me like that... Walter?!"

There, standing rather contritely beside a smug Adrian, was the very man they were trying to bail out.

Sylvester and Toby picked that time to come back, both with nearly half the bail money. If not for Adrian's quick hands the cash would have fallen on the floor.

He didn't need the mad scramble to deal with.

"How?" asked Toby.

"I came in and played the drop the charges or I'll send a very vicious and well known lawyer card on the casino owner. My cousin on my dad's side happens to be a rather expensive barrister and she would be more than happy to help. Coincidentally Ralph will be getting a new friend in school soon."

"If Walter has a cousin who could have cleared this up, why didn't he call her sooner?" asked Paige.

Walter coughed.

"Adrian's my _adopted_ brother. He is related to me, but through his mother's side. Technically he's my third cousin once removed. His father is from a long line of English nobles," explained Walter.

Which explained why Adrian was the same age as Walter himself, but had a different birthday. They were close enough, so none of the team had ever questioned the relation.

"Andromeda Tonks-Black is my cousin on my father's side, and a well known barrister. When she found out I was in America living a normal life, she insisted I take in Teddy. He's about Ralph's age, and he's used to weirder things so at least Ralph will finally have a friend he can talk to," said Adrian. Seeing their expressions, he quickly added "I'll explain when we're back home. It's...complicated."

"Why would having a cousin who makes really good coffee help Walter?" asked Paige.

Adrian chuckled.

"Barista is someone who specializes in making coffee. Barrister is the UK equivalent of a lawyer, just with a fancier title," clarified Adrian. Once again reminding them all he was Irish, and unlike Walter had yet to give up his roots.

"Oh."

"Anyway she's pretty well known and once I called her directly on her landline and she confirmed that she could take on the case for free, which she never does...well...the owner dropped the charges but you're not allowed back in the casino unless you can prove without a shadow of a doubt you had nothing to do with it," said Adrian.

And for good measure he also paid for the drunk Walter was chatting with to leave the cell, since he had seemed like a nice guy initially.

Left unspoken was the fact that once Teddy was cleared to live in the US with Adrian (and by extension Walter) that they would have to reveal the fact that magic was real to the team. Teddy was a metamorph, and while he could handle keeping his features in the same state during school hours, but asking him to do the same except in certain areas was a bad idea. Besides, it had to come out eventually.

"Now...once we prove Walter is innocent and find out how this happened, we're all going out to get properly smashed and enjoy Vegas for a full day. No work, no kids, just us having a proper vacation for once. My treat. And Toby, if you can behave in the casino where we're going to be staying at until this is cleared up I'll be your wing man at the bar and help you get a date for the night."

"Deal," said Toby immediately.

"Where exactly are we going?"

"It's an exclusive casino that caters to the rich, famous, or those who catch the interest of the owners. Or in my case, all three."

"Holy...how much did you win at the tables again?" said Toby impressed.

"Almost half a billion. Now do you think you can avoid being charged a second time from here Walter?" asked Adrian smugly.

"It was one time. I didn't take into account human stupidity and greed."

"This is Vegas. You should always take into account human stupidity and greed here," deadpanned Adrian.

"Man has a point," said Toby amused.

"So Paige, Happy, how would you like to join me at the poker tables? It might get a bit boring but the drinks and food are free. And they don't care if the extras stay at the bar and watch TV or play on the internet as long as they aren't communicating with the players."

"I'm in," said Happy.

"Do they allow cell phones?" asked Walter.

"Walter, I was _at_ the tables when the phone vibrated in my pocket. As long as you aren't trying to cheat, they don't care. And they have a free bar for any companions so they don't distract the players," said Adrian.

"Count me in then," said Paige.

How much trouble could they get into while in a hotel room?

* * *

 _In the room..._

"Back again laddie? I see ye have brought some fine lassies with ye," said the Scotsman, noticing Adrian return.

"Gentleman, this is Paige and Happy. I offered to let them have free reign at a bar on my tab and they graciously accepted," said Adrian smoothly, regaining his former seat.

"So what exactly had you leave in such a hurry?"

"My brother failed to take in human greed and stupidity when he accepted a job at the Crimson. The culprits tried to blame him for their theft, but I played the 'back off or I'll send my barrister cousin after you' card. They dropped the charges."

The men mostly winced. No one wanted to cross a Black after the way Adrian had restored their reputation as a house to be feared. Walburga had mostly shut up about Sirius' choice of heirs after having several long discussions with Adrian in the middle of the night.

She found the fact he hid his true nature as an Empath hilarious. He might not have inherited the physical manifestation of his Black heritage, but he definitely inherited the others.

So facing a Black who happened to be a barrister was even worse.

About a few hours in, Adrian got another text, as did Paige and Happy.

 _'Culprits found and arrested. Still not welcome in the Crimson.'_

Adrian snorted. After he had to practically blackmail the owner to back off, he wasn't surprised. Besides, there were other casinos.

* * *

Andromeda meet Adrian at the port key terminal, just off the normal one. Beside him was Walter, who was eager to meet his cousin from Adrian's side of the family. Though technically he was also Adrian's nephew.

Inbreeding made any family tree beyond confusing.

Andromeda eyed Adrian up, before asking him a serious of questions that only someone sane could answer. When he did that and showed zero signs of reverting to how he had been in St. Mungo's she turned to a suddenly nervous Walter.

"You've been good for him. This is the most coherent I've seen him in years."

"I'm an empath, cousin. Hospitals are anathema to me," said Adrian tiredly.

"That explains quite a bit. In any case I would like to see the place Teddy will be spending most of his time while he's with you. You can hire tutors or you can sign him up for Salem."

"He's absolutely never going to Hogwarts. Not if what I saw and the rumors I've been hearing are true," said Adrian flatly.

Hogwarts hadn't changed at all. The bullying was still a major issue, the classes were a joke, and they still had it out for anything they considered abnormal. Andromeda had had to resort to teaching Teddy in home school because the magical daycare refused to take him in because of his father.

She refused to subject Teddy to persecution because her daughter fell for a werewolf, even if Teddy thankfully hadn't inherited the curse.

Walter drove Andromeda to the garage, where Ralph was with his mother.

"This is Scorpion," said Adrian, his Irish accent clear as day.

"Walter, who is this?" asked Sylvester nervously. Andromeda had this air about her that worried him.

"This is the cousin I threatened that casino owner with. Everyone, this is Andromeda Tonks-Black, from England. And this...is Theodore Lupin Tonks-Black, aka Teddy."

"H-Hello," said Teddy nervously.

"Aw, he's so cute! I remember when Ralph was that adorable," said Paige.

Teddy blushed, making the 'cute' factor worse.

Walter really, really wasn't looking forward to explaining to the group about magic...even if this conversation was long, long overdue.


	6. Chapter 6

"Walter! Walter! That evil bird is here again!" said Toby with a higher than normal pitch. Which only indicated how freaked out he was about large birds.

The bird was giving him an evil look that stated it was only _waiting_ for Toby to come within five feet of it.

Teddy, who usually stayed with either Adrian or Walter (mostly Adrian) yawned as he came downstairs. He took one look at the bird and Toby, and snickered.

"Morning Uncle Adrian."

The bird trilled and raised a wing, before going back to giving Toby the evil eye.

Toby, however, was not an idiot.

"Did you just call him 'Uncle Adrian'? You know this bird?"

"Uncle Adrian is a phoenix animagus. I thought Uncle Walter told you about that already," he said, shifting his hair from a sedate brown to a vibrant shade of red and gold.

"How did..."

Teddy paused in getting his milk, realized his mistake, and said "Oops."

The 'bird' on Toby's desk trilled before hiding his head under his wing in embarrassment. There went Walter's hopes of prolonging the inevitable.

Then, to the shock of Toby and the recently arrived Happy and Sylvester, Adrian jumped off Toby's desk and in the span of three heartbeats...turned back into a human.

"Way to blow the secret pup. Still, it wasn't like it wouldn't come out sooner or later anyway with your gift."

"Sorry Uncle Adrian."

"I told Walter he should have said something before, but no, he preferred to keep it quiet."

"What's going on here?" said an absolutely confused Happy. Behind her was Sylvester, as she had picked him up that morning.

"Hmm... I suppose I could make Walter's life a little more difficult...and you do deserve to know the full truth seeing as how you've all been by his side for more than a few years. He still has to explain to Paige though. Alright, what do you know about magic? And I don't mean that David Copperfield crap or the stuff from Final Fantasy either," said Adrian.

"Magic is an impossibility," said Sylvester. Though he wished it weren't.

"Teddy."

Teddy took the hint and promptly changed into a miniature version of Walter.

"Explain that," said Adrian smugly.

"I shall call him...Mini-me," said Toby after a few seconds. Adrian broke out cackling in amusement.

"We so have to get Teddy to do this when Cabe's here," said Adrian. Toby snickered. "Anyway Teddy here is a shapeshifter. He inherited the gift from his mother's side of the family. I can change into a large bird to scare Toby with. And Walter's the second strongest wizard on my mother's side."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Walter's a wizard?" said Happy. That actually explained a few incidents back when...he...was around and nearly drove Walter off the deep end.

"Yup. He has a wand and everything, but after what happened in Europe he took Megan with him and fled Ireland before they could track them down. She's going to be back up and walking soon, by the way."

"Prove magic is real," said Happy.

Adrian's grin sent chills down their spines.

"Never challenge a Marauder," said Teddy wisely, as Adrian promptly turned the trash in the can next to Sylvester's desk into a very credible statue of Super Fun Guy...and then had it doing super hero poses without having to move it.

Needless to say Sylvester loved it immediately. That and he had successfully convinced the other two skeptics.

"If you think that's funny, ask Walter about what's it like to be a canary."

"No way...you successfully managed to convert the cupcake formula to other foods?" said Teddy with wide eyes and evil grin.

"Yup. I think I'll use it to force Walter into explaining things to Paige and Ralph. Cabe already knows because the government found out Walter was a wizard and clued him in shortly after Walter and Megan immigrated here."

"Just out of curiosity, how long will that last?" asked Sylvester.

"The transfiguration is permanent. The movement depends on how long the magic on it remains," said Adrian.

Then he proceeded to dose some of the food in the fridge. He didn't let them see which ones though.

Adrian wasn't the only one hiding a grin when Walter poured his coffee with Paige there to take Ralph and Teddy to school.

Much like how Adrian acted as a buffer for Walter when they were kids, and Walter shielded his magical ability, Teddy acted as a go-between for Ralph. He spoke math nerd (Teddy liked arithimancy, enough said) and Ralph liked that they had someone they trusted in common. Well that and Ralph had gotten him hooked on games. Enough said.

Adrian chuckled darkly as Walter abruptly turned into a large black canary for four minutes exactly.

While in the process of adapting the original potion, he had found a way to make it last a bit longer.

Paige was caught off guard, Ralph blinked a few times, and Cabe managed to hide his amusement behind his own coffee cup...right before he turned into a canary as well. This one with sunglasses.

"Sweet! I got Cabe too!" cackled Adrian.

"Really Adrian?" said Walter, spitting out feathers.

"Teddy shifted his hair in front of Toby, and you were only delaying the inevitable brother O'mine. Besides, it's hilarious."

Teddy nodded emphatically his agreement to that.

Adrian put his hand on Teddy's shoulder.

"Teddy, your mission, should you chose to accept it, is to explain how arithimancy works to Ralph."

"Yes sir!" said Teddy seriously.

"Be sure to be as detail oriented as possible when it comes to math."

It would give them something to talk about at least.

* * *

It took Paige a few hours to come to terms with the fact Walter was apparently a _wizard_ in more ways than one.

"Okay so let me get this straight. Walter fled Europe with your sister Megan after dosing her with a semi-illegal concoction...and the garage is warded?"

"To be fair, he had no idea America threw open it's borders a month before they fled because they had been staying out of public eye until they left. Faking a serious medical condition insured that they weren't booted out when the war ended," said Adrian, sipping his tea.

"So Megan isn't really sick."

"Oh she is, just that it's something easily curable thanks to my animal form. Though trying to get that would have been a complete nightmare for Walter otherwise."

"That?"

"Freely given phoenix tears. Dragons exist, as do unicorns, centaurs, sphinxes...hell, Teddy's father Remus was a werewolf."

"Sorry, I'm still getting over the whole magic is real thing."

"Don't be. You're taking it better than my aunt and Walter's other cousin. Petunia really didn't handle the fact my mother was a witch very well at all. Her husband was worse. I'm still the same Adrian, and Walter is still a genius with a bad habit of sticking his foot all the way in his mouth when he's around people. We're not any different from you than a Jew or a Mormon is," said Adrian simply. Then his lips quirked upward. "Though if you want to see something funny you should ask Walter where he keeps his collection of Cuchulain memorabilia."

"Who?"

"The famous Hound of Ireland. Our family is traditional. Very traditional...when it comes to magic. So our Da encouraged Walter when he became interested in the legends of Cuchulain, the Hound of Ireland. When we were in school Walter had a serious hero crush on the man."

Which was why Adrian was completely unashamed in introducing Walter to the series _Fate/Stay Night_. The character known as Lancer was his favorite hero, after all.

"Well it's nice to find out Walter is normal in some ways," said Paige.

"Oh, it gets even better. I have blackmail pictures of him when he was still obsessed with his hero."

Paige's eyes glinted, proving she too had a prankster spirit. It was just hidden under her sensible exterior.

"And of course who could forget the fact I have a way of expediting any and all baby photos of Walter..." said Adrian, leaving out the fact that he hadn't been adopted until he was closer to six year old.

Any and all baby photos were currently in his vault back in Europe, out of the reach of Walter. _Walter's_ baby photos however, were available by a single owl.

"I heard the words Walter and baby photos," said Toby.

"Who else is interested in seeing Walter back when he was cute, adorable and pudgy?" said Adrian out loud.

"I'm game," said Happy.

"Don't you dare," said Walter at the same moment.

"Let's not forget you can't get a hold of _my_ photos since you don't know where I hid them," said Adrian smugly.

"But I can," countered someone else.

Andromeda was tired of England, and her home had too many memories of her daughter and husband. America was a fresh start for her and her grandson.

She had graciously agreed to act as the personal lawyer for the entire Scorpion team, in exchange for obtaining a magical green card.

"Go ahead, I dare you. It's not like I'm ashamed of the photos, since they're the only ones I have of my birth parents," said Adrian shrugging. Then he grinned. "Besides, Walter's never seen my mother anyway."

"I have a question. If Adrian can turn into an evil bird, then what can Walter turn into?" asked Toby.

"That's...actually a good question. Walter?"

Walter winced.

"I am not showing you. I only learned it to keep my core from atrophying."

"Okay, now I have to see if only to know if it's blackmail worthy," laughed Adrian.

"Absolutely not," said Walter flatly.

Adrian grinned at the implied challenge. Now he _had_ to know what Walter turned into.

"So...baby pictures later?" said Adrian.

* * *

Paige was nervous. Every since Ralph's father Drew disappeared, she had been more or less off the dating scene.

And now she was considering the possibility of taking a leap back in. Not only that, but it was with a co-worker...sort of.

Adrian O'Brien was smart, cute, and he already knew how to connect with a child genii. She didn't even care about the fact he was apparently rich, from a very old _noble_ family, and that he had a lot of influence.

Sure, there was the fact that he apparently had 'episodes' because of his power...and wasn't learning about magic a surprise... but the fact was that if he had someone to focus on that he knew, he was perfectly fine.

She liked Walter, she did. It was just he had far too much trouble understanding normal emotions and knowing her luck would never properly _act_ on them in an acceptable manner.

Adrian, however, would be a good role model for Ralph.

Now she just had to summon up the courage to ask him out.

Or in this case, have Toby bring it up to Walter, who would bring it up to Adrian, and have him ask her out.

"So, you going to ask Paige out yet?" asked Toby.

"What?"

"Come on! You already have a history with her by babysitting Ralph, you're the common factor between her involvement with Scorpion, and you're the most normal out of all of us. Plus between you and Walter, you're the one most likely to create a stable relationship that would benefit Ralph."

"So you're saying I should ask Paige out in the interest of a beneficial romantic relationship?" said Adrian, raising an eyebrow.

"Saying? No, I'm telling you I've seen multiple indicators that she's showing signs of interest in you," said Toby.

Adrian threw a look in the general direction of Paige.

He had to admit, he'd never considered the idea of romantic involvement with someone after the mess Ginny tried to start.

Fake marriage contract or not, he was never going to marry a woman who resembled his dead mother _that_ closely. Besides, any contract made in his name _after_ his parents died (and he had checked shortly after he started Le Fay's...the Potters made no such arrangements) became null and void the moment he was adopted shortly before his sixth birthday and registered as Adrian O'Brien. This was further emphasized when his bank account was changed to reflect his adoption.

Any children he had would have the choice of taking back the Potter name, but he had no interest in it.

It wasn't like he could attend family reunions with other Potters after all.

Giving Paige a speculative look, Adrian realized there wasn't much harm in asking her out. He knew for a fact she wasn't some greedy, backstabbing red harlot. She only cared about her son and making sure he had the best chance possible.

Besides, Adrian had put safe guards in place in the event the idiots back in Britain tried to use him to empty his vault. He had made it a joint vault when he was thirteen, with some very specific stipulations put into place.

He could withdraw five hundred galleons, two hundred-fifty sickles, and one hundred knuts without any authorization. The _second_ that limit was met for a period of three months, he couldn't withdraw any further without being tested for potions, spells and other outside influences.

Then he had to get authorization from the other members of the joint account. In this case Megan and Walter.

He could not make multiple transactions after that limit was met within a month, he could not make large withdrawals from the account without proving he was doing it of his own free will (this was the main reason the goblins agreed to his unusually paranoid stipulations) and with the agreement of the other two members who also had to prove they weren't being influenced by outside forces.

He could and did make large deposits, notably after he played high stakes poker, but he made it almost impossible for anyone to withdraw from his account without raising a stink that the wizards would notice in a hurry.

What the hell, it wasn't like he had anything to lose by asking her out.

And since the genii of Scorpion were nosy bastards, well, there was no point in hiding the fact he was planning to ask her out.

"So Paige...how does going out to the movies next Friday sound?" he asked loud enough to be heard from where the others were standing. They didn't have a case and Ralph was debating arithimancy equations with Teddy for the foreseeable future...which meant Paige had the night off.

"Are you asking me out?" she asked surprised.

"We're in a garage full of super geniuses who would find out anyway and are almost guaranteed to spy on us while trying to be discreet and failing at it. We might as well have some fun with it," deadpanned Adrian. "Particularly Walter, as he is a mite overprotective of his siblings."

Paige looked at Walter, who didn't even try for innocent. She conceded his point.

"So...movie and dinner on Friday?" asked Adrian.

"Sounds great. What movie though?"

"I'll see what's playing that looks interesting," said Adrian.

Unsaid was that this was Adrian's first _official_ date, as he had only had one-night stands and brief flings during the middle of an active war. Dating was beyond difficult to do when you were active in a guerrilla warfare against a side that wouldn't hesitate to kill you.

So he just didn't bother.


	7. Chapter 7

While his date with Paige went off without a hitch, the next week came with a new issue he had not been aware of. An issue that both directly and indirectly involved Scorpion.

It directly involved the group because they were the best people to deal with the issue.

It indirectly involved them because the one who either found out or caused the issue was a former member of Scorpion.

The second Adrian caught the genuine panic and shock at hearing the name "Mark Collins" in his brother, he knew something big was up.

Walter did _not_ project emotions that clearly unless something was openly bothering him.

With that in mind, Adrian subtly sent a 'ping' of magic to let him know he was there. The immediate response of Walter was to send three 'pings' of magic back to him.

That meant he wanted Adrian to stay close.

"I think I'll join you guys. I've been meaning to get more involved with the company anyway."

"I just need Walter," said Cabe.

"You clearly didn't hear me. I'm joining you, whether knowingly or not. Besides, I have higher clearance than you do," deadpanned Adrian.

"How the hell..." started Cabe.

"I can explain it in the car where Walter can have an appropriate amount of panicking done away from the others. Now let's go!" said Adrian.

Adrian had sufficiently distracted Walter from the potential meeting with Collins. He had evaded the discussion of _why_ the idiots in Britain feared him so much they locked him in a hospital for almost two months, and he never gave a straight answer, to Walter's annoyance.

So when he finally told Walter what really happened, his feelings towards seeing Collins again was immediately diverted towards his overprotective side towards Adrian.

Walter was _not_ happy finding out after the fact that Adrian had died long enough that he literally saw limbo and had to chose whether to come back or not.

"You died and didn't think it was important?!"

"Walter, by the time I came back you were already in America hiding with Megan. And the president was more than happy to give me whatever clearance I wanted if it meant that I would at least give a two-weeks notice in the event I was planning to take over the country. They pretty much gave me diplomatic immunity just to keep the peace."

Actually it was more in line with keeping the most powerful wizard alive happy and not in the mood to cause havoc. So long as he was living quietly with Walter and not causing the same amount of damage as Voldemort, they could care less if he went skinny dipping a local pond.

Walter was still pretty pissed though.

"Is there any reason I can't ruin the people who allowed you to die for them and locked you in a place that would drive you insane?"

"Tell them that the current head of the Potter and Black families is an Empath that they _knowingly_ left in a hospital without bothering to find out what was causing me to go insane. I'll give you a list."

"What's so special about an empath?" asked Cabe.

"Long story short magical empaths require 'handlers' in order to function normally. I kept quiet about what I was because I didn't want them to try and assign some idiot girl to act as a 'shield' from the rest of the fools, and because Walter was already registered. We're pretty much considered royalty because we can sway how votes go and know when we're being lied to."

Any family that had an empath on their side would have enormous power in the Wizangamot, because an empath could help them determine how to sway votes in their favor. They were also very sought after in the Auror force and as part of the Wizangamot judicial process because they could determine if someone was lying without the use of potions.

It was one thing to practice a lie so well you could pretend you weren't lying. It was another to trick your emotions. A false story would stick out like a sore thumb to a properly trained empath.

Something "Harry" had known going in shortly after registering his brother Walter as his 'handler/shield'. If the senile wizard known as Dumbledore knew about it, he would have used that ability to cause more damage than he already had with his misconceptions about the greater good.

Adrian was pissed off enough that Dumbledore thought trying to force him to live with the Dursleys was "for the greater good". And if he had been furious, it was nothing compared to how Petunia had felt.

"So what's the deal with Collins, and why did you suddenly have a distinctive feel of panic about you?" asked Adrian changing the subject.

Walter winced, and didn't bother to lie.

"Mark used to be part of Scorpion...until I had him committed."

That got Cabe _and_ Adrian's attention.

"What."

"Mark is like me, only he didn't have the instinctive buffer that you gave me before you went missing. Having him around only made it that much easier for me to fall down the rabbit hole, and last time it took Happy two days before I came out of it. Considering the amount of positive feedback from the team after I had him committed, I concluded I made the correct decision in removing him to a safer area where he could get help."

"Which means I'll have to perform a read on him before you get too close," concluded Adrian.

"What's a rabbit hole?" asked Cabe.

"It's the dark side of high intelligence. Where they get so caught up in work that they don't remember to take care of themselves such as food, water, hygiene and most importantly, sleep. It can get pretty unpleasant," explained Adrian.

"It only happened once, and removing Mark from the equation put an end to that. Besides, I did remember hygiene spells during that period so it wasn't _too_ bad..." said Walter. He shut up at the flat look Adrian shot him.

* * *

Adrian wasn't even ten feet from the room when he stumbled on nothing. Walter paused and looked at his brother.

"You alright?"

"Chaos. Absolute _chaos_. I don't think that man is entirely sane Walter, and I wouldn't be surprised if he set this up because he found out you were active on a public level and succeeding."

"So he's..."

"A lost cause," said Adrian firmly. Then he shuddered. "I haven't felt someone like that since I first met Dumbledore, and even _then_ I had to focus my attention on other people just to deal with being around him."

That had been the most unpleasant part of his first meeting with the ancient wizard. After that he had learned to prepare for the god-awful feeling of being even in the same room with the bastard.

It had been the main reason Adrian hadn't brought his status as an empath out into the open. Anyone who felt like that couldn't be trusted, and he realized his gut instinct to avoid the man had been correct after the first year alone.

Walter, armed with this information, took a deep breath to find his emotional center. The second he went into the room and saw Collins, he knew something was up.

Behind the emotional wall Adrian had created by joining him, Walter saw quite a few subtle queues something wasn't right. The fact Adrian point blank refused to be in the same room as him meant that something _definitely_ wasn't right.

Any chance Walter would bring Mark into this dropped to zero. If Adrian couldn't stand to be it the room with a genius, then clearly something was very, very wrong about them.

Adrian felt the most comfortable _around_ geniuses.

Walter listened to the ramblings of Collins, then when he left the room and was firmly out of earshot, he turned to Adrian.

"You're right. Something's up with him and I don't feel comfortable having him fifty feet from you," said Walter.

* * *

"Walt, who's house is this?" asked Happy.

"Collins. Before any of you ask, he's not coming with us to deal with the issue," said Walter firmly.

"Who is Collins?" asked Paige.

"Collins is another genius who used to work for Scorpion. He went missing a few years ago and Walter won't talk about it," said Sylvester nervously.

Seeing the look on Happy's face, Walter gave her something she could believe, since Mark Collins had a way of getting into his head.

"Adrian refused to be in the same room with him, and I'm not letting anyone who sets _him_ off fifty feet near the team," said Walter.

Happy looked him in the eye and believed him. Walter was many things, but he was not lax when it came to protecting his family. And he was close to Adrian.

Anyone that made Adrian wary of being around was enough to make Walter keep his distance.

"So what exactly is going on?" asked Paige.

"The reactor hasn't had a SCADA update in some time, and the fuse was loose so it hasn't be regulating the temperature correctly. We're going to update and hopefully prevent a meltdown," explained Walter.

"And Collins?"

"First we figure out if he did anything to the reactor that might make it harder to fix the problem, _then_ we'll determine if he needs to permanently be put under watch. Considering what I felt back there it's safer to keep him in a facility than out in the public," said Adrian flatly.

"What did he do to set you off?" asked Toby.

"It's not what he did, it's his mental state. I get a baseline off off people because I can sense emotions, and the only one who's come close to Collins was a senile old man who was willing to accept several atrocities, some against innocent children for some self-styled version of the greater good theory. He had some serious issues that were never resolved," shuddered Adrian.

That seemed to reassure the other genii. Above all, Walter took Adrian's concerns seriously.

It was when they got to the reactor that they found a problem that could have caused some issues if they hadn't caught it.

Suddenly the idea of Mark just _happening_ to stumble on the reactor issue was called into question. Especially when Sylvester recognized the code as one of his.

"Mark did this. He wanted to make sure the reactor failed because Happy would have run a diagnostic against orders just because she doesn't trust him," said Walter.

"...Exactly how bad was this rabbit hole bender you were on?" asked Adrian slowly.

"Ten days. I had to force feed him just to get him back to normal," said Happy.

"Walter," said Adrian in warning.

"It was spectacularly bad timing involving another notice of Megan's condition combined with another failed attempt to locate you," said Walter in his defense.

"Walter, if you ever fall that deep again I swear I'll hex you until you come back into your right mind," said Adrian in a tone that brooked no argument from his brother.

Seeing Walter wince, the others wisely did not ask.

They didn't need to know that the last time Adrian had threatened to hex Walter for doing something stupid, he had been stuck in the infirmary for a week before they undid all the spellwork Adrian had hit him with.

"Will you drop it if I give you a hint on the form?"

Seeing his brother perk up, Walter scribbled something on his hand. Adrian started to snicker, before it went into full-on chortling.

"Why am I not surprised that a genius with low EQ would end up something like that. I knew all those movie marathons when we were kids would bite us in the ass someday," said Adrian. Then his eyes gleamed.

"No, I'm not going to show them the form. Not unless Cabe really, really gets on my nerves."

* * *

Which took about...three days.

Adrian heard the noise upstairs, and barely hid his snickering. Though he did grab the video camera and start taping from all sorts of angles for maximum amusement.

He made sure they were on tri-pods or securely anchored, so they wouldn't jostle. Including the one he was using.

Cabe was impatiently waiting for Walter to come down, mostly because they were already running a few minutes behind. Considering the fact he had a gun, Adrian threw up some silence wards and hit Walter with a spell to stop bullets from hitting him. It wouldn't repel them, but it would stop them an inch from his hide.

It started with the tap-tap-tap of something hard.

Then came the slow appearance of something leathery from upstairs. It took the collective genii (as well as Paige and Cabe) a few moments to realize what they were looking at.

By the time they registered they were looking at a freaking Velociraptor, the panic had already started.

The thing _leaped_ from the stairs onto Walter's desk, and by that time Cabe had the presence of mind to shoot at the thing.

The bullets didn't even faze the raptor, as it promptly used it's superior jumping ability to pounce on Cabe.

It took them a full minute to realize that it wasn't mauling him...but it was shaking as if laughing it's ass off.

Finally Adrian couldn't take it any more. He burst out laughing and fell on his side, cackling like an idiot.

"Please tell me Cabe wet himself," said Adrian to the thing.

That was when they realized they'd been had.

The 'raptor' got off Cabe and held up two claws in the universal sign of "victory", and Adrian only laughed harder.

"Is that...Walter?" asked Paige slowly.

"Yup."

The raptor's form flowed smoothly into a familiar face...and he was grinning like an idiot.

"Absolutely worth keeping my magic a secret just to see the look on your faces at seeing a living raptor," said Walter, smug.

"Laugh it up, Walter... I got a wrench in my tool box with your name on it if you scare us like that again," said Happy.

"That...was... so cool!" said Sylvester. Now that he knew it was only Walter playing a minor prank on them, he could admire the animal for what it was.

"That was hilarious. Need a few minutes to change your pants Cabe?" asked Adrian innocently, holding up the camera in his hands.

Cabe scowled at him...but would admit to himself it _was_ a good prank.


	8. Chapter 8

"I'm not doing it, no matter what you say," said Walter flatly, crossing his arms.

"This coming from someone who worships the goddess Cerridwen and _still_ idolizes Cuchulain?"

Walter couldn't look his brother in the eye, but he always was a stubborn one.

"Look, we haven't had a proper pagan ritual in years, and it never hurts to remind the gods that we still remember them. Who knows, they might take note of us and heal Megan."

"Or they'll notice us and take offense because we haven't prayed to them in years," countered Walter.

Adrian didn't want to say anything, because Walter was _extremely_ overprotective...and with good reason.

"I've meet the gods of death. Twice, in fact."

Walter turned to face him, and his eyes spoke volumes. He was _not happy_ , but then again he really hated the way the British idiots had yanked Adrian into their war and refused to let him leave.

"The first time was shortly after I was taken...they appeared after the idiot known as Voldemort somehow found a resurrection ritual that worked for his purposes. He used some of my blood to come back to a semblance of life. It was as I was escaping the graveyard that I saw them."

"Who?"

"Every god of death still worshiped or remembered. And they were all staring at the graveyard, their expressions clear as day. Every god from Hades to Kali to Osiris. They all watched Voldemort with such anger and revulsion that it terrified me. Then one of them noticed me. I was petrified, and I've never felt more terrified in my life. That was when something happened that I will never forget as long as I live."

Walter was listening intently now.

"One of them, the Jackal headed god Anubis approached me. I could hear the howls of the dead and the sound of the raging wind in his voice. He told me that soon I would have to make a choice, whether to accept the gifts given to the three brothers, or to reject them and allow them to fall into less worthy hands."

"And the second time?"

"When I gained the allegiance of the so-called Deathly Hallows. The moment I picked up the wand and held the stone, they arrived. Considering I had allowed Voldemort to temporarily kill me in order to destroy the soul fragment he left, I was the only one who could claim them. They awaited my decision rather patiently."

"And what decision was that?" asked Walter.

"I accepted them, of course. It's why the wizards were so afraid of me, despite the fact I would have happily moved back home and forgotten about them. Then that red haired twit found the perfect way to contain me until Draco realized the real issue."

Walter looked at his brother with concern.

"I'm fine brother O 'mine. All that happened was that I can see death now and that my natural abilities were boosted...that and I can now do this..." said Adrian.

Walter blinked twice before he realized he was looking at an almost perfect double of himself.

"What..."

"Bloodline gifts from the family...and I can awaken the gifts of any bloodline I chose, though it means my empathy will skyrocket past normal and be a little wonky."

Which was why he didn't dare use it after the war...not that he could have, being trapped in his own mind.

Walter considered another option.

"Could you properly awaken Megan's gift of magic?"

Megan's ability towards magic was iffy, at best. Her core remained fractured despite the treatments, but her control had improved to the point she wasn't considered a squib anymore.

"Huh... I would have to ask some of the gods or goddesses in charge, but I think it's doable. When's her next treatment anyway?"

Walter's concern eased from his face.

"Her last treatment is scheduled to be around Christmas," he said.

And by treatment, he meant the last dose of phoenix tears 'donated' by Adrian himself. Because Megan usually drank the tears under the supervision of the healers, the muggles still didn't know what was slowly but surely reversing the side effects of her disease.

They had been able to cover it by claiming Walter had found a recipe that worked and that she was taking an experimental treatment with Megan as the guinea pig.

They couldn't exactly get it cleared by the FDA, because there was no way they'd be able to figure out what was actually _in_ the medicine. But if necessary, or if they were really strapped for cash, they could easily offer the same 'medicine' to people claiming it was an herbal remedy that had to be made in small batches.

None of the O'Brien clan would deny anyone the chance to be healthy, even if they had to be sketchy about what exactly was in the medicine...and they made certain that the person who needed it wasn't just trying to steal the recipe. Not that they could, but it was the principle of the thing.

"That reminds me! I still have to get you a decent present to make up all the years I've missed!" said Adrian.

"I sincerely doubt you'd be able to find anything," said Walter, his usual personality returning to normal.

"Ah, but brother O 'mine, I know you better than most," said Adrian with a playful laugh.

He was so getting Walter a crow familiar for Christmas, just to see the look on his face...or maybe an Irish wolfhound.

* * *

"So Ralph, have you ever heard of Zombie Fest?"

Paige shot Adrian a look. He shot her a reassuring one.

"Zombie Fest?"

"You've heard of zombies, right?"

"The undead. They don't exist though, right?"

"Actually..."

"I really don't feel comfortable with my eight-year-old talking about the undead," said Paige.

"Zombies are cool though...besides, the bloods all fake and it's just for fun. Teddy and I are going and I figured Ralph might have a bit of fun acting like a _normal_ kid. Not to mention I know four people are going to be bringing their kids, two of which are younger than Ralph or Teddy."

That seemed to reassure Paige.

"Besides, it's not like someone would be stupid enough to release Inferi anyway."

"What's an..."

"Inferi are the magical equivalent to a zombie, but they're not infectious and you'd be lucky if a head shot took them out."

Surprisingly this came not from Adrian, but from Teddy.

Seeing the looks on their faces (Paige more than Adrian) he shrugged.

"Grandma made me study some of the darker books saying that every Black had to know a minimum of magic best not mentioned. Inferi were disgusting, but still better than some of the things in there. I mostly learned how they were made so I could figure out a spell to put them down permanently," said Teddy.

"...Why hasn't she said anything about this to me?"

"Something about how most of the spells you learned during the war were enough to qualify, since you've never really shown interest."

"If it weren't for the fact that most of what I used came from that library after I threw Dumbledore and his merry band of morons out of the house when I was sixteen and refused to let them return...not to mention Walburga's contributions, I would."

Walburga Black was a nasty, rather cruel and spiteful witch. But if she hated the fact that the new head of the Black family was a "filthy half-blood", the fact of the matter was that she hated Dumbledore and Molly Weasley more than she did his blood status.

That and they got along far too well upon learning he wasn't fooled by the old goat for a second, and was paranoid enough to make even Mad-Eye Moody proud.

Dumbledore attempted to forge Adrian O'Brien into his personal weapon. His arrogance cost him dearly, as the teen went behind his back and forged alliances with the neutrals with the agreement that he would never join either Dumbledore or Riddle, and would do his best to topple both.

He also didn't anticipate Adrian to have fail-safes in the event he tried to erase the memory of his brother and sister, or have fake memories implanted.

The first and _only_ time Dumbledore attempted that trick, he found himself in a very long, nasty duel which had Fawkes breaking their familiar bond in favor of freedom.

Anyone stupid enough to try and force a phoenix animagus into becoming a mindless weapon wasn't worthy of a familiar bond with one. And upon seeing that, Dumbledore was swiftly booted out of the castle.

Unfortunately the Ministry _still_ wouldn't let him leave.

Walburga had grudgingly admitted, before the war ended, that Sirius might have been a poor excuse for a son, but his heir was at least worthy of his Black blood. The fact Adrian openly worshiped the older, bloodier pantheons had actually endeared him to the woman. The second she found out he was an empath who had been torn from his anchor, she had told him of spells only a pure blood would know...and the location of certain tomes only an empath could use.

It was because of her that he survived at all.

At least he didn't have to deal with Kreacher. Upon getting the seal of approval, the house elf died in defense of the house... ironically not from Voldemort, but from Dumbledore. He had attempted to use the power of the secret keeper to gain access, but Kreacher proved once more than even weakened elves were still more powerful than an amplified _human_ wizard.

Dobby and Winky had been happy to bind themselves to Adrian, once he proved a worthy master by burying Kreacher according to the old ways.

If he had to, Adrian could easily mobilize most of England's house elves behind him...not that he could when the screams and emotions overwhelmed him in St. Mungo's.

"So is this zombie thing safe?"

"Again, all of it's fake blood and both of them will be wearing trackers at all times. Besides, Teddy will be carrying his mace just in case," said Adrian dismissively. "This is mostly a chance for Ralph to be a normal kid for a little while."

Paige was absolutely for anything that helped Ralph function normally as an eight-year-old. And if Adrian was right, then this was something he could brag about to the kids at school and they would actually want to hear more.

"Tell you what, you can join us. I managed to convince Sylvester, Toby and Happy into coming, mostly because Happy is allowed to terrifying anyone that hits on her."

"Do I have to dress up as a zombie?"

"It's either you go as a zombie, or dress up like a victim. Sylvester's going as a zombie, as is Happy. Toby said he'd go as a victim. I wasn't really listening to why, but I think he's hoping Happy will try to 'eat' him."

"And Walter?"

"Catching up on Mythbusters, funnily enough. Well that and the last time I dragged him into something like this, he ended up in a rather amusing cosplay of Lancer from _Fate/Stay Night_."

Walter was a die-hard fan of Cuchulain, the Hound of Ireland. So when introduced to the series _Fate/Stay Night_ and the fact that they introduced his favorite hero, well, he got hooked and soon fell in love with the series. Especially when he learned how technical they made magic... it was almost as bad as when Adrian introduced him to the _Nanoha_ series, which was heavily based on math.

Adrian was reasonably sure that if Walter was any real sort of Otaku, he'd try his best to recreate the Devices from the _Nanoha_ series.

He had already managed to more or less recreate the "lance" from the _Fate/Stay Night_ series.

"I don't know...I'm not really a horror fan."

"Come on, it'll be fun. How often to you have a proper family outing with Ralph?"

That was the part that sold Paige. It had been a while since she had a proper "family" outing with Ralph, as she had had trouble properly connecting to him. And Ralph was clearly interested in going.

She just hoped he didn't get any nightmares from this. He already had weird dreams from all the sci-fi series Adrian introduced him to.

When Paige first saw Adrian dressed up with Teddy, she nearly had a heart attack because she honestly thought he had been injured or even killed. Fortunately he rubbed off the dye he used as blood to prove it was a very clever use of food coloring in the right portions. Teddy was equally dead-looking, and even his clothes looked like they had been slightly torn.

"So Ralph, you two ready to get dressed?"

"Actually I'm going as a 'victim'," said Paige.

Ralph went upstairs with an eager Adrian while Teddy waited downstairs. When they came back down Paige had to fight her instinct to believe Ralph was hurt.

"There is such a thing as _too_ convincing," said Paige.

"Maybe, but it'll all wash off later and he'll get tons of complements from the other zombies...plus he gets to show off to the kids at school."

Paige drove to the zombie festival, and had to admit that Adrian had the best costume out of the ones there.

She was actually rather happy seeing Ralph acting like a normal kid. Adrian had told her there would be younger kids there, and she saw people bringing their two-year-olds with them, and none of them looked even remotely scared. Well, tired and cranky, yes, but not scared.

* * *

"This is a total gore fest," said Toby.

"You're only saying that because you're a victim, not one of those eating the others," said Happy.

Sylvester was rather happy he was one of the 'undead', as Adrian had worked his surprising magic (not the real kind, but it sure seemed like that) on him, turning him into one very dead zombie.

Happy had declined, and did her own make up and costume.

"I still don't get how you managed to convince us into coming here," said Toby.

"Bribed Happy and told Sylvester I'd help him turn into Super Fun Guy for Samhain in two weeks," said Adrian.

"Samhain?" said Paige.

"The original Celtic name for Halloween, which is also called All Hallow's Eve. Samhain was traditionally a harvest festival to celebrate the end of the growing season. People also believe it to be the night when the boundaries of the living and the dead were at their thinnest...which it is, by the way. People would dress up in hopes of confusing the spirits and the evil creatures into ignoring the living, while people would leave small sacrifices of food at doorsteps. Then the Christian's came, turned November 1st into a holiday called All Hallow's Day...which lead to Samhain being called All Hallow's Eve."

"Wow...you know a lot about pagan mythology," said Paige.

"I'm Irish, and our family has a habit of worshiping the old gods on the side, while attending Mass to keep the neighbors from wondering about anything weird they see. It's hard to condemn others as a witch if they regularly attend Church and aren't hit with lightning or other bad luck," said Adrian dryly, before adding "I mean Walter _still_ worships the goddess Cerridwen, who watches over wisdom and knowledge, as well as transformation."

"So what are the pumpkins for?" asked Toby.

"Actually it was the Americans who started using pumpkins. Originally it was turnips or gourds that were used, but no one has ever really been clear as to why," admitted Adrian. "Some say it was to ward off evil spirits, other claim it was to symbolize Bran the Blessed, who was decapitated and asked that his severed head be placed towards France to repel enemy invaders from Celtic lands."

"That's...a bit disturbing," said Paige.

"You think that's horrifying, you should hear some of the older stories about faeries. The Sidhe can be _very_ nasty when they want to be, and it's never a good idea to attract the attention of the Fae, especially if they're from the Unseelie courts."

The Scorpion team were all surprised when Walter showed up...as a zombie.

"I thought you were catching up on Mythbusters?" asked Adrian.

"I would, except I realized that if I stayed at the garage it would only be me and Cabe for several hours. Coincidentally..."

Adrian looked past his brother to find an uncomfortable Cabe Gallow wandering around. It was clear he hadn't been aware of where the team had gone for the day, or that Walter had been prepared with a quick change of costume.

"Oh this is going to be fun. We so have to get him into the zombie run for a quick laugh," said Adrian grinning evilly.

"I thought it would be beneficial if the _whole_ team participated in today's events," agreed Walter.

Watching Cabe, Paige and Toby run from the 'zombies', hilarious. Seeing Ralph and Teddy taking pictures from on top of Walter and Sylvester's shoulders so they could have a good laugh later? Priceless.

Ralph was very popular at school the next morning with Teddy beside him, as some of his classmates had been lucky enough to go to the zombie festival and none of them had recognized him until he said something.

Apparently his costume had been _VERY_ convincing.


End file.
